Originally Posted by jays52

1) If they were actual scouts, they wouldn't be writing blogs. They'd be studying film 20 hours a day, 7 days a week.

2) Bench reps? Seriously? Bench reps? That means functional playing strength? Bodybuilders can rep 450 for 15-20 reps, you think they'd have a prayer at stoning Wilfork? There's a 5'3 Scottish olympic lifter than can dunk. I wonder what that's a function of?

3) ESPN's draft service is dead f'ing wrong. Maybin was tossed by TE's. He had his pads in his throat on every run play. At least Barwin wasn't seven yards downfield after every snap.

4) Find a Penn State tape where Maybin is cracked down on during a sweep. After the play, note how green his jersey suddenly is. Barwin fought cracks really well when they came.


Wait. Wait. Hold on. I can play this game.....click on the url tab....google.com.....Everette Brown....mmmmk...click on the ESPN link....ok.....ctrl+c....ok, now back to Patsfans tab.....ctrl+v. Bow to my prowess!


ok...fahk...gotta say this. These days, the so called experts out there think that every undersized defensive end with reasonable speed is a 3-4 OLB. Let me say this very clearly, they don't know what they are talking about. The positions require two very different skill sets. They require different abilities, different player profiles, different intelligence attributes, different everything. Just look at the player play and think about how that will correlate to playing within the Patriots system. This isn't rocket science.

Originally Posted by Box_O_Rocks

I was seriously bummed when BB bundled a third and second to take Chad Jackson - I watched the Eagles take another "raw" defensive end from a small school, Chris Gocong. He's only been the starting Sam on a Jim Johnson pressure defense the past two years. The next year I watch BB sit tight and let the Eagles grab Stewart Bradley in the third round about four picks or so before NE picked - I later read a Reiss note commenting on how unhappy the draft room at Gillette was over that move. Bradley took over the MLB job as a rookie and has been super.

Originally Posted by ctpatsfan77

To be fair, weren't their reports that the Pats did try to move up to grab him, but couldn't find any takers?

And here's an interesting question for you—would you have taken Bradley in 2007 if it meant no Mayo in 2008?

Originally Posted by Box_O_Rocks

I first posted about Barwin at the end of November, well before any "numbers" came in.

Originally Posted by Box_O_Rocks

Speaking of TE - if you get a chance to look at Cincinnati before the season is over, check out DE Connor Barwin. He was a 30+ catch TE last season and took TE reps as a true freshman, he also plays basketball at Cincy. What's fun is he is leading the Big East in sacks with 7. Watching the USF @ Cincy game on BSPN tonight he was a force on defense, then he came in and did a Vrabel on offense catching a short yardage TD. NFLDraftScout.com has him the #11 DE (5th round projection) at 6'4" 255. Draft Prospect lust at first sight. Grab this kid for an OLB conversion and you get a #3 TE/STs stud while he's learning the new job.

Originally Posted by Seneschal2

IF, we want to add even more youth to the OLB position, one prospect to consider may be: Connor Barwin, a 6-4 255 senior DE from Cincinnati. A Former TE, he leads his team in sacks while also being a standout on ST. This versatility and ST ability make him a possible developmental candidate. A R2-3 projection.

Originally Posted by DaBruinz

BOR mentioned this kid in another thread...

If we want TE Help...

Barwin is a 2/3 projection and rising currently.. So he could, very well, be a guy the Patriots look at with the San Diego pick...

And he could be the next Mike Vrabel.... lining up at the TE spot in Goal Line formations.

Originally Posted by Seneschal2

Correction. Your first post on Barwin was Oct 30th:

If we want TE Help...



And for the record, 10 days later, yours truly thought he was informing the board first about Barwin, only to be directed by DaBruinz to your post above:

Needs Analysis: Linebacker



---

So there we have it. The origin of the Barwinian Theory of Evolution. The rest as they say -- will be history...with the trial date scheduled for April 28, 2009.

Originally Posted by tanked_as_usual

the pats reached for mayo..........

the pats reached for maroney.........

the pats reached for mankins........

the pats reached for watson.........

the pats reached for graham and branch.........

the pats reached for light........

almost every high pick the pats have made had negative value with respect to 'conventional wisdom' prior to the draft

this assertion is dumb

Originally Posted by Box_O_Rocks

He may have, I never followed USC that closely, but Rivers, like Matthews, started as a Safety was moved to OLB. Rivers played around 235, he was 241 for the Combine, then down to 233 or something for his Pro Day which was when I pulled him off my board and bumped Mayo up to the top of the ILB list. Matthews saw time at DE as a reserve and starter last season, so he's got much more versatility and deserves to be in the discussion, it's just that Petey Carroll really uses his LBs so much differently than BB does, so when I see Matthews play I see his speed, but not his power - and power is a key component in NE football if you're going to win the Line of Scrimmage. Thanks for the comment on Rivers, it's a good comparison to a guy we were discussing as an ILB this time last year.

Originally Posted by tanked_as_usual

almost every high pick the pats have made had negative value with respect to 'conventional wisdom' prior to the draft

this assertion is dumb

Originally Posted by WhiZa

Any pick that isn't a steal/good value will be considered a reach. Where's the middle ground?